In St. Louis, a white couple came out of their homes during a BLM protest armed with a pistol and an assault rifle.

In a tweeted video, the couple is seen aiming their guns as protesters march by their house. They are saying things to the protesters that cannot be heard because of the noise of the march. However, it is obvious that whatever they are saying was likely hostile and unwelcoming.

This is not only incredibly problematic as the protesters were not on their property in the videos or the images — although according to the Daily Mail, the otherwise nonviolent protesters had broken through a gate into the private community — but it is also part of the reason the Black Lives Matter protests are happening in the first place.

After the recent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor from altercations with the police and the death of Ahmaud Arbery, who was gunned down by two white male civilians, BLM marches have erupted across the country to protest the unjust deaths of Black people.

This St. Louis couple are actively proving the point of the BLM movement: Black people in America are at risk from many different places. They are at risk to die from an altercation with the police and they are at risk to die at the hands of non-POC who are armed and "defending themselves."

It's totally absurd and unwarranted. Peaceful protests across the country have been met with force by the police even though they are peaceful demonstrations that the American constitution protects. To be met with such anger and hate is completely antithetical to the call to change of BLM.

But this situation, as racist as it may be, does point out the exact reason why marches and protests are happening — and it is the exact reason why they must continue.